Today's prologue time-trial will resemble the banquet in Macbeth, with Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Francisco Mancebo, barred for suspected doping, in the role of Banquo. While their absences will overshadow the afternoon - as indeed will France's World Cup quarter-final with Brazil - British fans at least will have keen eye on proceedings, with David Millar and the quadruple Olympic medallist Bradley Wiggins among the shortlist of contenders.

Such is the dearth of talented British road racers that Wiggins is Britain's first Tour debutant since 2000, when Millar finished the race, and this will be the first Tour since 1995 when there has been more than one British representative.

It is also the first time since the prologue time-trial's inception in 1967 that Britain has had two strong candidates, even if Wiggins was yesterday unwilling to be drawn on his chances in spite of the absence of three recent prologue winners, Lance Armstrong, Bradley McGee of Australia and the Swiss Fabian Cancellara. "I'm feeling good, but I have no expectations on myself and no one in the team has expectations of me. I've improved my form in the last few weeks but I could be first or last. What happened yesterday will mean there are a few more out of the picture."

Since deciding to focus on road racing until the build-up to the defence of his Olympic pursuit title in Beijing, Wiggins has been outspoken in his condemnation of drug-taking in the sport and he welcomed yesterday's events, echoing Millar's description of Operation Puerto and its aftermath as "fantastic".

"It's good, bloody good, it's about time they got rid of these sods if they are proven to be doing stuff. Guys like me have to endure them making our lives hard in the mountains and what happened yesterday is brilliant from that point of view. In another way it's not good though as it will take over the next few weeks, but for someone like me who races clean it's good that it's being unravelled."

Wiggins will start today's time-trial with next year's prologue in his native London on his mind. He has made no bones of his determination to be in the frame by then but his last prologue outing, at the Dauphiné Libéré stage race, resulted only in a disappointing 21st place which he put down to over-confidence.

Wiggins' team manager at Cofidis, Eric Boyer, feels that in actual fact his protégé does not yet have sufficient belief in his own ability. "Brad is a super rider but he needs to gain in confidence," said Boyer. "That's why I've decided to put him in the Tour. I don't want him to turn up in London next year and be over-awed by the occasion. If he can come through the Tour well it will be a turning point for him." On paper and on recent form, the favourite this afternoon, however, will be David Zabriskie, the young American who defeated Armstrong in the stage last year.